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<title>today we’re a country (let’s see how that goes) by savanting</title>
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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27448660">today we’re a country (let’s see how that goes)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/savanting/pseuds/savanting'>savanting</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Hamilton - Miranda</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Ficlet, Musing, One Shot, Other, Short One Shot</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-07 03:08:32</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>706</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27448660</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/savanting/pseuds/savanting</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>November 7, 2020. Alexander Hamilton watches America begin to heal. One-Shot.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>today we’re a country (let’s see how that goes)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I do not own <i>Hamilton</i> (the musical).</p>
<p>This is a burst of prose that came from the high of seeing America celebrate the return of truth and honor and hope. I know it’s super short, but I figured Musical!Hamilton would want to join the party too.</p>
<p>The title comes from lyrics in the song “Cheering for Me Now” by Lin-Manuel Miranda and John Kander.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The city Alexander Hamilton loved the most was alive with the sounds of celebration.</p>
<p>For one day every few years, Alexander was able to descend once again to the land of the living. The rules were many, the restrictions rampant, but he had decided to take the chance - <i>the opportunity</i> - to see the world of the living anew.</p>
<p>Almost always he visited the America he had left behind, the burgeoning nation that had been but a child when he had departed it, the sound of a gunshot separating life from death.</p>
<p>One day was not enough to change anything in the living world, let alone to make a difference in some fashion, but Alexander walked through streets thronging with people of all stature and color, all shape and demeanor. He kept his head down, unfamiliar with the protocols of the day in which he had been transplanted. Yet his eyes kept catching on faces that were exuberant, thriving, dynamic.</p>
<p>Whatever had happened - the noise was so great that he could barely pick out sentences or phrases - the mood was gleeful, jubilant.</p>
<p>If he had been an artist, he would have painted canvases with the expressions he saw, the movement, the vitality. People danced to music that seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere all at once, and he would have remarked in a letter that the dances of <i>his</i> day had never been quite so open and fluid.</p>
<p>If only he had had a quill and parchment, Alexander would have penned a long detail of what he saw and what it might mean. Even though he watched the living world, it was often like seeing a blur of motion without being able to see the full picture of what had happened. He had glimpsed wars, tragedies, atrocities - so many things - in just that way. The helplessness of the dead was a far cry from what power he had garnered while he had been alive.</p>
<p>It was amazing how the world could change yet not really transform at all. There were shades of things that had plagued his day, whispers of discontent and hate and prejudice. He recognized the signs and the winds that blew with reckless abandon. Even tyrants had existed since the dawn of time; they had just been camouflaged in different shapes to different degrees.</p>
<p>But today, this day he had been granted to observe, felt different. For once in what felt like a long while, Alexander looked on with hope at the people he passed, that maybe they were the legacy he had tried to leave behind. His life had been a fingerprint in the universe, he felt, but this America held the tones and traces of something to be proud of.</p>
<p>Alexander knew little of the issues of the day - only so much gossip traveled up to the pipelines of heaven - but these people seemed to be a whole, so much more than their parts, as if they were joined by invisible strings that tied them closely together. All he could do was observe and breathe in the air.</p>
<p>He was reminded of a time when revolution had been all he had hoped for, when change had been so close that he could taste it on his tongue. Once, he had naively wished for a war to bring him closer to his ambitions. Once, he had put everything to the side just to promote his name.</p>
<p>These people weren’t here to be recognized or exemplified. They shouted and sang, fists pumping in the air, and it was a wonder that people could come together in such large numbers just to ring in a new era. He felt the surge of emotion even though he stood apart from the makeshift parade.</p>
<p>Alexander thought he might stay a while, maybe find a place for a bit of brandy. He couldn’t stay and experience whatever change was coursing through this city, but he would observe while he could.</p>
<p>There were still so many good times to come. For this city, for this country, for this world.</p>
<p>Alexander hoped it would be even better on his next jaunt in the living world. Now - where was that drink? He wanted to make a toast to the crowd.</p>
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